The Guardian by Diana Knightley
Twenty-seven - Magnus
Quentin called for a meeting in the Great Hall asking for James tae come without Sophie so we could speak freely. We made a loose circle of chairs and I leaned against the table.
Quentin said, “James and I discovered that the menace is still at large.”
Hayley said, “You sound like an old movie.”
Magnus said, “Och, I miss movies, but especially the ones where the cats are falling off the tables.”
Everyone laughed.
Fraoch, his ball of yarn in his lap, his knitting needles clicking industriously, asked, “What are we goin’ tae do on it?”
Quentin said, “Well, we need to do something different.“
I said, “We are hidden well and we are safe, we canna discount that. We hae found peace while I recovered.”
I caught a glance passed between Quentin and James. I kent they had been discussin’ my health amongst themselves. I tried tae hide m’breathlessness on the stairs, or the weakness of m’arms when I was needin’ tae be strong, but I dinna hide it well enough.
Quentin said, “So, now that you have recovered, we need to fight.”
I asked, “How would we do such a thing?”
Fraoch pulled a long length of yarn from the ball causing it to roll off his lap and across the floor, and one of the storeroom cats raced up to check what it was. “Och wee boy, ye daena want the yarn, twould taste terrible.” He scooped the ball up and said in answer tae me, “Ye could challenge Sir Padraig tae a fight in the arena. Ye would need tae train first, but ye could recover the throne that way.”
“True, there are mechanisms in place tae make the challenge legitimate and the running of the fight fair, though Sir Padraig would hae the upper hand. There is a chance I would lose.” I looked down and noticed I was rubbing my left hand again. I ran my hand through my hair.
James said, “You have more vessels. You’d be able to surprise him, arrive, challenge, and you’d be able to leave if anything was amiss. We jumped in and out of the arena once, right? We could come up with a plan to keep you safe — possibly.”
Quentin said, “Nope, I hate this idea. What we need to do is fight on a larger scale. We need to surprise attack and take down his military capabilities. Damn, I wish Hammond was still there.”
I said, “Aye, me as well.”
We all stared off into space while Quentin looked around at us pointedly.
I chuckled. “What dost ye want?”
Quentin said, “Don’t pretend like you don’t know what I want, Boss, we need another vote.”
“Och, yer votes are goin’ tae be the death of me.”
Quentin said, “Only an authoritarian dictator would say such a thing,”
I joked, “Or a king.”
“True, but you’re committed to being more modern than that. Think of yourself as the king with the pesky parliament. We keep voting on what we are going to do, while you pretend to rule with an iron fist.”
“Tis a blade of steel.”
“Yeah, and on that ominous note we’re going to vote on whether we agree with the king or not. ‘Ayes’ are to blah blah blah. ‘Naes’ are to do nothing in the darkest coldest part of Scotland.”
I joked, “All of Scotland is the darkest and coldest.”
Quentin stood and asked the group, “Who thinks we need a new plan?”
James joked, “Can you explain the rules again, Quenny? I can’t figure out what the ‘aye’ or ‘nae’ mean.”
His eyes went wide. “Argh! I have gone over this — ‘aye’ for Florida, sandy beaches, good food, ‘nae’ for staying here!”
I said, “I think the ‘aye for Florida’ is quite a bit more. Twould be an ‘aye’ for war. There could be losses. Twould nae be easy.”
“It’s not just war though. It’s coming up with a plan and making something happen. If you agree, I have like one hundred and seventy-eight different plans we can start talking about. Some of them are shite, but some are probably workable. So everyone — ‘aye’ for plans.”
Quentin, Beaty, Fraoch, and Zach all said, “aye,” and then Kaitlyn said it as well, all by herself. “Aye.”
I said, “Och, Kaitlyn, ye are goin’ tae vote against me as well?”
She raised her chin. “I think we should consider, with proper caution, that there might be a solution we haven’t figured out yet. Maybe we just need to jiggle the handle, do something different, cause something to happen. I think it might be good.”
I exhaled. “Kaitlyn, once ye set yer mind on somethin’ ye are verra difficult tae turn and ye are settin’ it against me?”
“My mind isn’t set, my mind is open to all possibilities — I won’t hound you, I just think you should consider it. ‘Consider’ is a very forgiving word.”
I said, “All right, I will consider it, but I am still goin’ tae disagree, I believe the risk is too great.”
Fraoch said, “In the meantime, reivers stole some coos this week. James, I ken ye just returned, but would ye ride with me out tae speak tae Rob Roy?”
James grinned, “I’d love to, haven’t seen the good ol’ boy since I got married!”
I said, “I will send money with ye for his payment. Try tae get m’coos returned, tell him I daena like payin’ for his services and losing m’cattle.”